After Five Years Of Trying, Disabled Man Is A Minister

It took five years and a "major shift in outlook," but Bob Wendel achieved a dream of sorts yesterday when he became ordained for a full-time, paid position as a Baptist minister.

Perhaps handicapped those years by hunting more for a parish than for other ways to use his skills, Wendel confessed, "It took five years for me to have a wider view of the ministry, but it was well worth the wait."

Ordained as Robert A. Wendel during a traditional ceremony yesterday at Allentown's Calvary Baptist Church, the 1979 graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary was officially prepared to become a resident chaplain at Connecticut Valley Hospital, a state mental institution in Middletown, Conn. He will begin his duties in September.

Wendel's perceptions, however, were not the only hurdles between his New Jersey seminary school education and a congregation he could call his own. He was born with cerebral palsy and could not walk without crutches.

Not having had a full-time Christian job also stood in the way of his ordination, church officials said two years ago.

Still, Wendel said it took a "major shift in my life," prodded by his bride-to-be, that pointed him in the right direction.

"It was when I began to consider others more than myself - as I began to look at the community and possibilities available to me

Wendel said the woman he'll marry next year influenced him, as well as his work with "special needs" students at Lehigh County Vocational Technical School and on a special project to make Lehigh County more accessible to the disabled.

He said the students taught him a "greater sense of patience."

The project, which he launched in January, will help handicapped and disabled people know which restaurants, churches, theaters, funeral homes and other public places they can use with a minimum of inconvenience. Staying with the plan for establishing such a guide through August, Wendel said the project has helped him "put aside my own concerns and look for what I could do for others."

Wendel said in a previous interview that he knew he wanted to be a minister at age 18, when he stood beside his brother Richard during a special church service in which both received scouting's God and Country Award.

Yesterday, the same brother, now pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Weedsport, N.Y., gave 35-year-old Robert the "Charge to the Church."

Wendel said he now knows he has real talents and abilities in counseling.

"While I wanted to be a church pastor, I think my talents can be used as effectively in other institutions. I'm also considering veterans' hospitals," he said, explaining he thinks his age and background would help him assist disabled Vietnam War veterans.

"I really have a lot to be grateful for and fond memories of Allentown," Wendel said.

" . . . And eventually, if a church is interested, that will always be attractive to me."